Bombie Bells
by newbienovelistRD
Summary: Rosie's Merry Christmas becomes a Scary Christmas when she meets a new friend.


It was a Christmas eve morning in Duckburg. Successful businessman and adventurer Scrooge McDuck was bright-eyed and bushy tailed as he stretched out of bed. He waited for his devoted housekeeper Mrs. Beakley to bring in his usual morning tea.

A knock came to the door.

"Right on time." Scrooge smiled to himself as he opened the door. His tea had arrived. But it wasn't Mrs. Beakley with the tea, it was his ghost butler Duckworth.

"Good morning, Sir." Duckworth greeted his employer.

"Morning, Duckworth." Scrooge greeted right back. "Where's Beakley? Busy with the kids?"

"Only one of the children." Duckworth answered. "Miss Rosie's self-defense classes. Remember?"

Scrooge blinked. "Ah, yes. Forgot about that." He took his morning tea and proceeded to the bathroom.

Outside in the freezing cold snow, Rosie was a hot, sweaty mess underneath her thermals.

Her mentor, Mrs. Beakley, was wearing hre winter attire and hardly had a drop of sweat on her. "Excellent job, Rosie." Mrs. Beakley complimented. "You've been doing well."

"Thanks, Mrs. B..." Rosie panted before she collapsed.

"Shall I carry you to the showers?" Mrs. Beakley offered.

Rosie panted a few more times before she could respond. "Gotta...rest...a minute..."

"Very well." Mrs. Beakley caught a whiff of Rosie's odor and recoiled. "Don't get too comfortable. You need a shower immediately. Have you even showered before you got here?"

Rosie's eyes widened a little. "Well, no. It's a waste of a shower if you don't work up a sweat first." When you're an orphan with no decent place to call home, bathing was a rare luxury.

"I see. Well, be sure you take a shower before you do anything else today. No exceptions." The housekeeper walked off as Rosie gave her a thumbs up.

Rosie groaned as she felt the cold air cool her off. "I had no idea a housekeeper could be such a drill sergeant."

For the past couple of months, Rosie has been under the strict tutelage of Mrs. Beakley in self-defense. Since Rosie was an orphan, a secret that had to be kept from her friends, she needed to protect herself, especially when you're friends with the Duck family, a family that was prone to danger.

But today was Christmas Eve. And Rosie had to family to spend it with. She was invited to spend the Duck's Christmas eve party tonight, but what about Christmas day? Her friends expect her to spend the day with her parents at her own home.

Rosie's heart sank. She had no home and no parents.

Sighing, Rosie got up and went to McDuck Manor to take a much needed shower. As she walked to the mansion, she saw Della and Donald decorating the yard with lights and inflatable snowmen. They laughed and sang carols together. Seeing them so happy together made Rosie heave an even heavier sigh.

Inside the mansion, Rosie saw Huey, Dewey, and Webby happily decorate the Christmas tree while Louie supervised. And supervise was Louie for laying back and slurping a can of holiday Pep.

Seeing the family having so fun made Rosie feel left out. She longed for a family to spend holiday fun with.

* * *

After a hot shower, Rosie was ready to leave.

"Hey, Rosie!"

Rosie turned over to see Webby with her usual perky smile. "You want to help us set up the traps?"

"Traps?"

Webby nodded. "Yeah! We set up traps to keep sugar plum fairies and Santa Claus out."

"Santa Claus?!" Rosie never thought Santa Claus was real. But then again, Rosie has seen plenty of things she thought weren't real. Like ghost butlers, wicked witches, and sinister singing pirates.

"Uh...maybe later." Rosie answered. "I have...stuff to do back home."

"Okay! And you're welcome to come to our big Christmas party tonight!" Webby offered.

Nodding, Rosie left the mansion and wandered into Duckburg. She hoped a nice walk through the cheerfully decorated town will take her mind off things. But it didn't. Everywhere she looked, Rosie saw kids and their parents enjoying the spirit of the holidays. She watched parents ice skating with their kids, singing carols, having snowball fights.

Rosie envied them all. How she longed for a family.

Sure, she could just tell her friends that she's really an orphan and hopes her friends will take pity on her and let her stay at the mansion. But Rosie didn't want to do that. The last thing she would want is to be a freeloader and take advantage of their kindness.

So she had to find a way to provide for herself. But how?

Suddenly, several horrified screams shattered Rosie's thoughts. She nearly jumped out of her own feathers as a small group of kids came running toward Rosie! She leaped out of the way before she got trampled.

"THE MONSTER ROARED AT ME!" one of the kids screamed.

"A monster?!" Rosie gasped. She looked back to where the kids ran off from. Curiosity winning over her, Rosie decided to investigate.

* * *

Following the trail of fresh footprints in the snow, Rosie found herself just outside of Duckburg. There, she saw a rather spooky sight.

Just past a rusted iron gate was the creepiest mansion Rosie had ever seen. It looked even older than Scrooge McDuck! Rosie saw the footprints entering and leaving the mansion. So this must be where this alleged monster is.

Walking past the gate and down the crooked path to the spooky mansion, Rosie's head should be telling her to turn back, but her feet raced forward. She didn't know why, but she just had to come to that mansion. The alluring sense of mystery surrounding that house was intoxicating.

Finally, Rosie made it to the large mansion doors. She saw the doors ajar and pushed them open. Inside the mansion was dark, spooky, and dusty. As soon as she wandered inside, Rosie let out a big sneeze. "Oh, man. Where's Duckworth when you need him?" She wished her ghost friend was here to clean up all this dust.

Rosie ventured further into the mansion. It looked like it was abandoned for years. Who knows how long anyone has lived in it? It's the perfect place for a monster to live.

A low, growling sound reached Rosie's ears. Quickly knowing it was the monster, Rosie followed the growling all the way to the parlor. She peeked through the doorway and nearly screamed as what she saw.

It was the monster. A tall, massive monster with sickly green flesh, ragged clothes, white scraggly hair tied back, a tarnished nose ring, and hollow, vacant eyes that chilled Rosie to the core.

Seeing this nightmarish monster made Rosie regret everything. She was about to leave until the monster burst out of the parlor and roared at Rosie.

"AAAAAAAAAAAAAAHHHHHHHHH!" Rosie screamed and took off running. But her foot fell a loose floorboard and it fell through "OWWW! MY LEG!" She looked back and saw the monster stomping right for her. Rosie tried to stand, but her leg was stuck through that floor.

Rosie saw the behemoth looming over her. She screamed and shielded herself when he reached for her with his big hand.

Just when her life began to flash before her eyes, Rosie felt her foot being freed! She unfurled herself and saw that the monster had helped her.

"Uh..." Dumbfounded, Rosie stared at the monster. He just looked at her with those blank white eyes. "Thanks." She managed to stand up. Luckily, her ankle was a little sore, but not broken. "So...this is your house?"

The monster just groaned and shook his head.

A sense of familiarity came to Rosie. "This is just some dusty abandoned house so found and decided to move in? I mean, they're aren't many places a monster can call home."

The monster nodded.

Sadness came upon Rosie's face. "I know how you feel. When I was really little, I was dumped off at an orphanage. I was always alone until I was adopted by some crazy rich dude. But he was just using me and I was using him too. But in the end, he cut me loose and now I'm alone all over again." She looked around the creepy mansion. "To be honest, your place is a palace compared to my home, it's a crummy tent under a bridge."

Rosie's story touched the monster's heart. He put a sympathetic hand on Rosie's shoulder. Rosie saw the softened look in his eyes and managed to smile despite his frightful appearance. "Thanks, buddy."

The monster smiled. It was a very nice smile.

Now realizing this monster was not going to kill her, Rosie began to fully relax. "Y'know, I'm going to a Christmas party tonight at McDuck Manor. You want to come?"

A bit surprised, but happy to be invited, the monster nodded.

* * *

That night, the McDuck family was getting ready for the big holiday shebang. The decorations were up, dinner was ready, and the tree was perfectly trimmed.

"This is going to be the best Christmas ever!" said Webby.

Launchpad had just arrived carrying the steering wheel to the Sunchaser. "And the plane is perfectly parked!"

Donald and Della came in, looking scruffed up and irritated. Scrooge immediately noticed. "What happened to you two?"

"Ask your pilot over there." Della growled., pointing at Launchpad.

Scrooge blinked. "Ah, I see."

A knock came at the door. "That must be Rosie." said Duckworth. He hovered to the door and answered it. He got a big surprise when he saw Rosie with a huge, gruesome creature behind her.

Rosie smiled and waved to her stunned ghost friend. "Hey, Duckworth. Merry Christmas!" she greeted.

Mrs. Beakley noticed that Duckworth was acting strangely quiet. "Duckworth? Why are you just standing there letting all the cold air in?" The housekeeper walked over to the door and gasped. Everyone else gathered to see what was wrong and gasped as well.

"Kids! Get back!" Della shouted, standing behind her kids. Donald had his fists out and ready to brawl.

"Whoa, whoa! Easy, guys!" Rosie tried to calm her panicky friends.

"What in blazes in going on?!" Scrooge went to see what all the fuss is. When he saw the hulking monster, he yelped in shock. "You?! AGAIN?!"

"You know him?!" asked Rosie.

"Rosie! Get away from that gruesome goon!" Scrooge pulled Rosie away from her new friend. "That's the Bombie!"

"The what?!" Rosie pulled herself out of Scrooge's grip.

"The Bombie! He's a curse upon whoever is the richest person on Earth! An indestructible monster that we barely managed to contain!" Mrs. Beakley explained.

"Bombie? Bombie..." Rosie rolled the name around her tongue. "So, he's a bad guy?" She looked up at Bombie. Sure, he looked horrifying. But that soft look in his hollow eyes said otherwise to Rosie.

"Well, he was. But not anymore." said Louie. "See, when I claimed Uncle Scrooge's fortune and became the richest duck in the world. He came after me until I earned what the richest person has to earn; humility."

Rosie blinked. "Humility."

"Yeah, I ate a huge piece of humble pie. And so did Scrooge." Louie said. "After that, the curse was lifted and Bombie left." He looked at the Bombie. "I don't think we should worry."

"Yeah! Can he stay for Christmas, Uncle Scrooge? Pleeeeeease?" Rosie begged.

Scrooge had his doubts. The Bombie was the one foe he could not conquer. So he invested millions of dollars to lock him up in an enchanted prison. But if Bombie was really going to destroy Scrooge or Louie or anyone, he would have done it by now.

"Alright, he can stay." Scrooge sighed. He was caught off guard when Rosie hugged him.

"Thanks, Uncle Scrooge!" Rosie said happily. "This really means a lot! Thank you!"

Seeing the child so happy, Scrooge couldn't help but smile himself and return her hug. Seeing the old miser be so kind to his new friend, Bombie smiled.

"Okay, everyone! Let's get out of the cold and get this party started!" said Della.

Everyone gathered inside McDuck Manor and the party was now in full swing. Carols were sung as Rosie and Bombie danced together. Well, Bombie danced with Rosie by holding the girl in his huge hands and waltzing around the room.

But Rosie didn't mind. This was the most amazing Christmas she ever had.

* * *

After the party, Rosie and Bombie returned to the old mansion together. "This was the best Christmas ever!" Rosie said, happily riding on Bombie's shoulder.

Bombie groaned, nodding in agreement. The smile on his face indicated that he had as much fun as Rosie.

"Y'know, Bombie. I think this is the beginning of a beautiful friendship." Rosie said. They entered the mansion. Rosie looked around the dark, dismal room. "But first thing's first. We need to fix this place up." Bombie gently set Rosie to the floor. "Just because you're a monster, doesn't mean you have to live like one." She sighed. "But it's going to cost a fortune to make this place even remotely decent."

Bombie blinked in realization. He suddenly picked up Rosie and carried her to a different part of the mansion. "Whoa! What gives, dude?!"

Bombie set Rosie down and came across an old grandfather clock. Rosie watched the monster point to the clock. "What? What about the clock?"

Bombie grumbled and pointed closer to the clock's door. Catching on, Rosie opened the door then looked back to her friend for another hint. She watched him make a pulling motion with his hand. Seeing this, Rosie took a better look at the clock and noticed that there was a single weighted chain inside the grandfather clock.

Rosie took the chain, gave it a pull. A low, humming sound came from within the wall! Rosie backed away as the wall next to the grandfather clock opened a secret doorway!

"Whoa!" Rosie walked through the doorway. What she saw next almost made her faint.

It was money! Piles and piled of money everywhere! And not just money, there was gold bars, diamonds, and jewels in every color of the rainbow! The entire room was filled with treasure! It was like the inside of Scrooge's money bin!

"HOLY SCHMOLY!" Rosie yelled out. "Look at all this! Just look at it!" Rosie's eyes lit up by all the tremendous riches filling this room. "This is more than enough to fix up the mansion! We don't have to worry about food or laundry or showers ever again! WOO-HOOO!" Rosie hugged Bombie's ankle. "Thank you so much, Bombie!"

Bombie smiled and patted the young duck's head.

Rosie looked around the room. "But...where did all this money come from? I mean, it must belong to somebody. But who?" She looked at Bombie for an answer, but the monster only shrugged, implying he didn't know either. "Well, before we do anything, we need to find out more about this house."


End file.
